


Pretty boys' old selfies and the dangers of liking them

by everyonelovesLaurence



Category: The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, I'd totally follow Thomas' tumblr, M/M, tumblr was cool once and more people were using it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:01:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29095449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everyonelovesLaurence/pseuds/everyonelovesLaurence
Summary: It's 1:30 am on a random Tuesday night when Minho commits what is widely considered one of the greatest social media faux pas a person could make.He has clicked like on his crush's old selfie and now Thomas is definitely going to think he's some sort of lovesick stalker.
Relationships: Minho/Thomas (Maze Runner)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 32





	Pretty boys' old selfies and the dangers of liking them

It's 1:30 am on a random Tuesday night when Minho commits what is widely considered one of the greatest social media faux pas a person could make.

Scrolling through a certain person's Tumblr while trying to go to sleep isn't unusual for him, Thomas's Tumblr account can be a real rabbit hole full of reviews and commentaries and critiques of old and often obscure sci-fi movies and books and short stories, and while that's not entirely Minho's thing, reading it is like talking to Thomas himself – a little confusing but still utterly interesting and Minho could do it for hours. Like he spends hours on Thomas's Tumblr.

That's not the faux pas. That sort of thing is normal. It's not weird to like a post that is two years old. Minho himself still gets likes and reblogs on a four-year-old post about something he posted in one of the fandoms he was in at the time. But this time, as often happens late at night, he has wandered over to Thomas's selfie tag. Thomas posting selfies is rare, but not so rare that it wouldn't take a person a while to go through it all, if one wanted to spend at least a little while looking at his face on each of the pictures.

Minho spends a lot of time looking at his face. He doesn't really get why everyone isn't doing that. It's a damned cute face, especially when Thomas looks right into the camera and smiles. Especially if it's in a certain light. Hitting the like button on a post where light plays off the shifting colours of Thomas's eyes and he looks a little extra... delicious – a word Minho keeps associating with the other boy more and more – well, it should be perfectly normal except he realizes far too late that the post is old, and he has basically outed himself as a stalker.

Liking an old post for content – fine.

Liking an old post because he was looking at someone's face – not fine.

That's for obsessive people who have nothing better to do than keeping tabs on their crushes online. Liking it in the middle of the nights suggests other things too. Like he was jacking off to it or something.

Minho was not jacking off to it. He sees Thomas almost every day, his face and whatever Minho has managed to catch sight of his body is forever imprinted on his brain and he doesn't need a picture of Thomas to do that.

He curses to himself. Wonders if he should quickly hit the heart icon again to remove the like, but honestly, he isn't sure if Thomas won't still be able to see the note in the morning, because he knows Thomas gets notifications through the app, he's seen it himself. Would it be weirder to unlike quickly, or let it be?

Minho is almost panicking. He does NOT want Thomas to think he's a stalker.

He does NOT want Thomas to think Minho likes him.

Except he does want Thomas to know Minho likes him, and so far, nothing that Minho has said or done has made Thomas realize this.

Maybe, a small part of him whispers, leaving the like where it is will let Thomas know. Maybe if he knew, he'd like Minho back. Maybe he'd come to school the next day, greet Minho at the door, smile with those oh so kissable lips of his and say something cheesy, like "Like my face, do you? Well I like yours too."

He doesn't remove the like. A guy can hope, right? And Thomas might think it's just funny. Or not think it's anything to think about at all, he has a lot of followers on Tumblr and Minho's like is maybe not the only note he has in the morning, probably far from it.

It isn't until he closes his eyes that he realizes he's not even sure Thomas follows him back or not.

*

In math class the next morning, Thomas doesn't mention it. They talk briefly about the upcoming test and there's some loose plans made about maybe getting together to study for it, along with Alby and Zart who are both in the same class. Because of course there would be other people there. Minho doesn't think he has ever been alone with Thomas.

If he could be alone with Thomas, ever, then maybe he could've managed to flirt in a more obvious way a long time ago. As it is, it's always in a group, and Thomas always thinks Minho is joking, and so do everyone else, because Minho's "type" is usually thought to be buff guys like himself, not the slimmer hipster types wearing deliberately ugly cardigans like the green and brown thing Thomas is wearing today. Apparently, he found it in a thrift shop last week.

"It's authentic," he had said in a satisfied tone to Newt during lunch the day after, by which Minho gathered he meant actually from the 70s, and not some retro-look-alike from the last time the 70s were cool.

Guys in ugly cardigans aren't Minho's type, but damnit if those colours don't bring out the hazel in Thomas's eyes, and Thomas is, still, somehow, despite not being a jock (although Minho knows there are a perfectly decent amount of muscles hiding underneath the totally nerdy clothes), definitely Minho's type. Or he's the exception to the type. It doesn't matter. They agree to meet at the library the next day, and Alby and Zart are onboard too, and Thomas smiles, and Minho forgets to listen to the teacher for maybe a full five minutes because Thomas's smiles often distract him.

*

At lunch, he notices Thomas checking his phone more than usual, and he's not the only one who does.

"Hey, Tommy, what's up?" Newt asks, trying to steal Thomas's phone like he often does. "New boy?"

That catches the attention of a few more of their friends, because Thomas isn't known as someone who dates very often, and when he does, it usually ends quickly.

"Is it that guy Aris?" Fry asks, but Thomas quickly shakes his head and is about to respond when Winston says, "Is it Teresa again?"

"Oh, is it Gally? You know I always said he's trying way too hard to make people think he hates you," Alby pipes in.

"Is it Clint," Jeff asks carefully, as if not wanting the whole table to be able to tell that if it was indeed their friend Clint, Thomas had better find somewhere to hide, because Jeff has been trying to ask Clint out for weeks.

"Guys, it's no one!" Thomas half-shouts over their many and increasingly silly suggestions of who Thomas is occupied with. "It's just someone who liked a thing of mine on Tumblr, and I don't follow them, but I think their username sounds really familiar. Their blog is cool, that's all."

"Someone we know?" Newt says, peeking over Thomas shoulder to see the username. He freezes and casts a look at Minho, who wishes he could just melt through the floor, and tries to shake his head as discreetly as possible.

"Maybe? Like I said, the name's familiar."

Newt frowns. "But you don't follow them back?"

A dead weight starts to fill Minho's stomach. He remembers the day Thomas started at their school – two years or so almost, now – and Newt had brought him to their lunch table, and somehow Newt had told everyone Thomas username and that he ran a popular Tumblr blog that was supposedly "awesome" and all about consuming 90 minutes of science fiction every day, be it in literary or visual form. They had all followed him of course, along with exchanging other social media handles, and Thomas had jotted them down in his notebook to get to later. He had followed them all back. Except for Minho.

"Is it weird to do so now?" Thomas asks. "He liked a selfie. Wouldn't following him now be like, 'I didn't use to like you, but now that you like my face, of course I like you'."

"I don't think that would be weird," Newt said, sending Minho a knowing smile. "Not if you think his stuff is cool."

"How do you know it's a he?" Minho says before he can remove himself from this conversation. "I'm sure your ugly mug appeals to both boys and girls and non-binary people and everyone else."

Thomas makes a face. Minho has seen that face before. It's his "that's something to ponder"-look and it involves one raised eyebrow and a scrunched-up mouth in a way that is completely ridiculous and ugly to anyone who isn't in love with him. Which Minho is. So to him it looks kinda cute.

"I guess I don't?" Thomas says after a minute or two. "Just sorta feels that way, looking at what they post. I guess it doesn't matter."

He clicks something on his phone and Minho sends thanks to whatever God just helped him, because the sound on his phone is off and the vibration is low as Tumblr sends him an e-mail letting him know he has a new follower.

"I don't remember you posting a new selfie," Newt says, once again with a smirk in Minho's direction. "And I read through my dash this morning during English class."

"It was an old one."

"Stalker alert," Alby says. "Someone likes your face more than they like your stuff. Careful, Thomas."

"It doesn't have to mean stalker," Minho protests. "They probably just slipped up. Or it was a reblog that popped up. Reblogs are why I don't post selfies on Tumblr. You can never delete something properly if it's been reblogged." He wants the topic changed so badly, he's about to start talking about the weather soon.

"Who reblogs someone else's selfie?" Fry pipes in. "What's the point?"

"Well, still," Minho insists, "it could have just been a mistake."

"Or someone likes you," Newt says, "and thinks you're pretty enough to be worth looking at old selfies. You should be flattered, Thomas. And then find out who they are, because you need some love in your life."

"You think so?" Thomas shakes his head in disbelief, but smiles.

"Yeah," Newt says, fixing Minho with his gaze. "I think so."

*

Thomas doesn't bring up the topic again that day, but Minho can see him scrolling through Minho's own blog during the day when there's a moment leftover. His phone sometimes vibrates with the notification of an occasional like.

Newt keeps sending Minho wide knowing smiles and at their very last class together slips him a note.

"Just so you know, you'd make a cute couple."

Minho balls it up with his fist and throws into the trash. He should've just deleted that damned like. This is turning into a much too big of a deal.

"Minho?" Thomas leans over and whispers and Minho swallows hard, because Thomas isn't usually this close to his face and it's letting him notice tiny details on Thomas face and neck, and he can pick up his scent, the thought of which travels all the way down to his crotch in a way that Thomas surely must notice. But he doesn't.

"Yeah?"

"Do you know who this 'runbetterrun' person is?"

"Don't think so," Minho lies.

Thomas leans back with a disappointed expression.

"I swear that name looks familiar," he mumbles.

*

The school day technically ends and Minho heads to running practice. This is much better. No Thomas at running practice. No distractions. Here, Minho is control, he's in charge, he knows what to do, and he can be his usual cocky self, the guy he often forgets to be when a certain someone is around.

Here, he can just run.

Here, he can imagine that he's leaving all his troubles and stress behind.

It almost works.

*

The next day, Thomas isn't checking his phone much at all. He even sits next to Minho at lunch, which is rare, because while they are all technically friends, Thomas and Minho are not the kind of friends who ever hang out together by themselves. Minho is halfway through lunch when he realizes that Newt seems to have had something to do with the seating arrangements, because he mouths "you owe me" to Minho when no one else is looking.

Thomas doesn't notice, because he's too busy telling Minho about wanting to do a body snatcher themed series of posts on his blog and Minho tries to follow along with the rather long list of movies and books Thomas namedrops as if everyone knew about them.

Minho toys with the idea of suggesting Thomas teach him more about this. Maybe on a date. He wonders what Thomas would say if Minho asked him out. It wouldn't be the first time he asked a guy on a date, he's usually good at it. Smooth, he's been called. With Thomas, he always feels rough and coarse.

Instead, he smiles when appropriate, and Thomas smile back anytime Minho actually knows what he's talking about.

*

They meet in the library after school to study for the math test, him, Thomas, Alby and Zart. Alby grins at Minho as if he knows something he shouldn't and Minho glares back and decides to give Newt a hard kick next time he sees him for not keeping his damned mouth shut. Zart hasn't noticed anything, or he's too good of a friend to want to embarrass Minho. It's probably the former.

As often happens when the four of them get together to study for math, Thomas only needs a little time to get it before he ends up helping the other three. They're not dumb, they're taking AP calculus after all, but Thomas is just effortlessly brilliant, and no one could ever compare with him, Minho is sure of that. He also knows Thomas doesn't mind helping, he sometimes says it helps him retain the information better.

Sometimes Minho finds himself wishing there were a subject Thomas completely sucked at so that Minho, who also maintains a high GPA, thank you very much, could offer to help out. Just him and Thomas. In private perhaps. Near a bed, preferably. For when they need to take a break from studying, and Thomas wants to thank him for his help by-

"I need sugar," Zart says suddenly.

"Me too," Alby says, "and a coffee. We'll be right back."

The two of them leave, and Minho realizes that he is suddenly all alone with Thomas. No one else is in the library this late.

He wants to be his usual smooth self and say something flirty. He used to flirt with Thomas a lot, when Thomas was new at school, but Thomas is damned impossible to flirt with, always thinking it's a joke.

"I didn't know you liked the Cornetto-trilogy," Thomas says suddenly, not looking up from his math book.

"My favourite movies," Minho and then almost chokes on his breath. "Wait, how did you know that?"

Thomas looks him in the eye, a playful expression on his face that Minho isn't sure he has ever seen before. "I see you use a lot of reaction gifs from those movies. You know, on your blog."

Crap. Crap, crap, crap.

Thomas pulls out an old notebook from his bag and turns to the last page of it and smiles. Smiles right at Minho, prolonged eye-contact and all.

"I knew I had seen that username somewhere. But your handwriting is terrible!"

He shows Minho the page. There it is. The list of usernames and handles from that very first day. Minho sees his own, in his own handwriting, but with a different coloured pen next to it is a big question mark. He can see why, now. Rumbetterum, it looks like.

"I couldn't find anyone with that name," Thomas says, his smile ever wider, "and I had so many new followers that week because of a thing I wrote about Ray Bradbury, so I was going to ask you the next day if you'd written it down wrong, but you were sick, remember? You were out for like two weeks, so when you came back, I had completely forgotten I hadn't followed you back."

"It wasn't a big deal," Minho tries, remembering the doubts in his head when he realized Thomas had followed everyone else of their friends except him. But it had been a mistake, and something lifts in his heart. It wasn't because Thomas had thought he was boring or anything.

"Sure it was!" Thomas insists, "I don't think anyone is obliged to follow back, or anything, but it's pretty rude not to do it for a friend, and it's not like I don't like. Because I do. And apparently, I missed out on your stuff, it's pretty funny."

His face grows more serious and he gently kicks Minho's shoe with his own. "I'm sorry. I follow you now, though."

"I noticed."

"Yesterday."

"I remember."

"You know, yesterday, at lunch. When you could have just said it was you? Why didn't you?"

Minho tries to summon up his smooth and cocky self again. But when he fails, he decides he has had enough. He makes sure Thomas is looking right into his eyes and takes a deep breath.

"Because I like you. I like you enough to lie awake and look at your pictures because you're damned pretty and nice to be around and all of that other romantic crap. Doesn't mean I'm stalking you online or anything."

"Alright then."

Thomas leans back in his seat, seemingly satisfied with that. Before Minho has time to ask for a better answer to what he just said, Alby and Zart return with snacks and coffee from the vending machines.

*

An hour later, Zart and Alby declare themselves ready for the math test, and Minho has done his best to follow along. Thomas never moved his foot after the tiny kick, and it's been resting next to Minho's own for the entire time. It's distracting. Minho has spent most of that hour wondering if it's a challenge or not. Or an invitation, maybe.

Alby and Zart leave quickly, and Thomas lingers, messing with his bag, so Minho stays behind too. Just in case Thomas has something else to say. They've left the library and reached the parking lot before he does.

"I was gonna watch _The World's End_ this weekend," he says, not really looking at Minho.

"Yeah? _Hot Fuzz_ is better."

"Sure. But I was gonna see it as part of my body snatcher thing."

"Right."

Thomas looks at him then and cocks his head. It's damned adorable, but Minho doesn't need Thomas getting more adorable in his life right now. But Thomas has an expectant look on his face, then smiles and shakes his head.

"Minho... do you want to see it with me? On Saturday? At my place?"

Minho has asked out a lot of people. He's usually successful. But he can't remember a moment when someone asked him out. If that even is what is happening here.

"You mean... like a date?"

"Yeah," Thomas says simply.

Minho feels his face smiling back, and something warm spreads through his heart, but his head hasn't quite caught up yet.

"A real date?"

"Well, a real date in the sense of you liking me, and me liking you, and us deciding a time and place to meet and do something that people sometimes do on dates. But the time will be daytime, and the place will be my place, which I guess isn't always traditional for a first date."

"You know, you shouldn't just see one of the movies. You should really see the whole trilogy to get the most out of it," Minho says, his smile getting wider, and something within him settles down, satisfied and content. Thomas wants to date him. Thomas likes him. Thomas _likes_ him. Thomas likes _him_. _Thomas_ likes him.

"I wouldn't mind three movies. I'll even get a pack of Cornetto ice cream. We could have one per movie."

"Is that all I'll get to lick if I say yes?"

The words are out of his mouth before he can even think to stop them. Half a second later he doesn't want to stop them, because they produce something that he hasn't ever been able to get before, over the close to two years he's known Thomas – a deep, intense blush, spreading over that beautiful face.

And it's not only his face, Thomas seems to blush with his entire body, almost turning away from him.

Minho decides he likes it and wants more of it. "Well?" he asks, taking a step closer to Thomas, who, being about an inch shorter has to look up just a little to see Minho's face.

"Why don't we start with your mouth a little higher up and see how that goes?" he says.

It's two hours later when Minho comes home. He spots a hickey on his neck in the hall mirror and smiles. His friends might laugh at him tomorrow. But they'll snicker at Thomas more. After all, Thomas has two.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, and don't hesitate to let me know if something sticks out as badly written, or even if something could just get better.
> 
> Minho's blog name is apparently a real blog, and I apologize to the person who runs it, but there are no similarities. The title is from the song Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People, which is a song I often run to when I go for my long runs. Maybe Minho does too?


End file.
